'Who wants to live beside this?' Neighbour frustrated after vacant home catches fire

A house fire in the early hours of Wednesday morning is just the latest bout of frustration for a next-door neighbour who says the property has been overrun with squatters and open drug use for the past three years. 

It was around 1 a.m. when Alyssa Provencher called Sault Ste. Marie Fire Services after noticing flames and smoke rolling out of 108 Albert Street East, a two-storey home in the city’s downtown core that has sat vacant since it was purchased by an out-of-town landlord in 2021. 

“I’m so tired of dealing with this,” Provencher told SooToday. 

Although she has erected a tall fence in a bid to keep intruders out of her backyard, she’s still had to deal with squatters and “addicts” next door hurling syringes over her fence.  

Despite three years of repeated calls to police and the city, Provencher says nothing has been done — and there’s seemingly “nothing preventing” squatters from taking over vacant properties in the Sault. And with all of the open drug use in her neighbourhood, she’s only left to wonder what can be done for folks who live downtown.     

“I can’t even sell my house,” said Provencher. “Who wants to live beside this?”  

As previously reported by SooToday, real estate investors from southern Ontario swooped in and bought up hundreds of homes in Sault Ste. Marie during the COVID-19 pandemic, in hopes of generating cash off of real estate holdings in distressed housing markets throughout Ontario. 

As it turns out, 108 Albert Street East is one of those properties, having been purchased by a group of now-insolvent landlords whose 11 corporations received court-ordered protection from hundreds of creditors earlier this year after plunging $144 million into debt and claiming less than $100,000 in the bank.   

DSPLN Inc. purchased the vacant Albert Street East home for $160,000 in November 2021, according to provincial land registry records retrieved by SooToday. The corporation, which lists Aruba Butt as its director, owns 49 properties in the Sault.  

Butt is the wife of SID Developments founder and chief executive officer Robby Clark, a former child actor who starred in The Zack Files, a Canadian sci-fi television series which aired on YTV from 2000 to 2002. 

The now-insolvent corporations helmed by Butt, Ryan Molony and Dylan Suitor are affiliated with SID Developments, SID Management (formerly RWC Management) and SID Renos, all of which are based in Burlington, Ont. Together, they are referred to in insolvency court documents as a group of companies “specializing in the acquisition, renovation and leasing of distressed residential real estate in undervalued markets throughout Ontario.” 

The group owns more than 600 rental properties in housing markets across Ontario with lower-than-average costs of living, including the Sault, Sudbury and Timmins — making it “one of the largest holders of residential real estate in Ontario,” according to Ontario Superior Court Justice Jessica Kimmel.

A investigative report by court-appointed insolvency monitor KPMG has accused the insolvent landlords of misappropriating or diverting funds in order to pay for an "extravagant" lifestyle which included private jets, stays at luxury hotels and a $5,000 tab at a Miami strip club, among other things. The landlords "vigorously dispute" the monitor's findings and conclusions, according to recent court filings, calling them "disputed, incomplete and at times, inaccurate or misleading."  

Seven of the insolvent corporations affiliated with SID Developments — including DSPLN Inc. — collectively own 152 properties in Sault Ste. Marie. Court documents show the properties consist of 122 rental units, 79 of which sat vacant as of January. 

SooToday has so far identified as many as 99 properties in the Sault that have been purchased by out-of-town companies associated with Butt, including Zack Files Real Estate, DSPLN Inc., The Pink Flamingo, Joint Captain Real Estate and Happy Gilmore Inc. 

Despite 108 Albert Street East sitting vacant, it has generated some cash for DSPLN Inc. in the form of two loans that have been taken out on the home: one for $500,000 in December 2022, and another one worth $128,000 in January 2023. 

A property standards officer with the City of Sault Ste. Marie issued an order against the owner of the vacant building “some time ago”, building inspections and bylaw enforcement coordinator Frank Bentrovato told SooToday via email Wednesday, with the matter scheduled to be heard in provincial offences court at a later date.  

“A new order will be issued by the property standards officer regarding the recent fire,” said Bentrovato. “If the order is not complied with within 90 days, the city may then proceed to take further action.” 

Earlier this year, the City of Sault Ste. Marie announced the implementation of a Vacant Home Tax as a measure to address increased housing availability and affordability as vacant homes continue to contribute to the “scarcity of available housing options for residents,” the city said in a release.

If a property remains unoccupied for more than six months, owners will be subject to an annual tax, with the specific rate yet to be determined.  

The new tax will take effect on Jan. 1, 2025, based on the 2024 vacancies.  

DSPLN Inc. was the subject of a SooToday article late last year when it was fined $140,000 after being found guilty of half a dozen Ontario Fire Code offences. The majority of the offences found at the multi-residential building in the city's west end were linked to smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.